This invention relates to a laser assembly and more particularly relates to apparatus for regulating the temperature of the laser in the assembly. The invention is especially concerned with apparatus for precisely regulating the temperature of a laser to obtain an optimum operation of the laser.
Lasers are being used in a progressively increasing number of applications. For example, lasers are being used to produce patterns of semiconductor circuits on integrated circuit chips. Lasers are also used as weapons to destroy enemy aircraft and missiles. Lasers are further used to determine the flight characteristics of an airborne vehicle such as an airplane. These are only a few of the many different uses of lasers.
Lasers respond to voltage inputs to produce substantially coherent light at a particular frequency. In producing such light, the lasers generate substantial amounts of heat. Such heat has to be dissipated efficiently. If the heat is not dissipated efficiently, the lasers tend to become overheated. When they become overheated, they do not operate with the same efficiency as when they are operating at a regulated temperature. For example, by maintaining the temperature of the laser constant, the wavelength of the light transmitted by the laser is maintained constant.
A considerable amount of effort has been devoted, and significant amounts of money have been expended, to regulate the temperature of a laser precisely so that an optimum operation of the laser can be maintained. Such efforts have not been entirely successful, particularly since the temperature of the laser has not been determined precisely and such determinations have been made at positions displaced from the laser. Furthermore, the removal of the heat from the laser has not been efficient.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,046,840 filed by Anthony Smart, John Abiss and Roger Woodward on Sept. 13, 1988, for "Improvements in Apparatus for Providing for a Determination of the Movement of an Airborne Vehicle in the Atmosphere" and assigned of record to the assignee of record of this application, apparatus is disclosed and claimed for accurately determining the temperature of a laser and for regulating the temperature of the laser in accordance with such determinations. The apparatus disclosed and claimed in U.S. application Ser. No. 286,334 measures the laser temperature at the laser and determines this temperature electrically. The apparatus disclosed and claimed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,046,840 also regulates the transfer of heat from the laser in accordance with such temperature determination.